Some years ago, around the end of the year, I was in a bad place mentally. I had spent the previous month in a slump, and was relying heavily on media (primarily regular podcast episodes released on a weekly cadence) to bring me continuity and joy when I felt like I couldn’t reliably get either on my own.

I remember, as we hurtled towards the 25th of December, my regular podcasts and radio programs on the ABC started announcing they were going on break for the rest of the year, sometimes well into January (or even February). With every announcement, I experienced a burst of emotional pain, as I realised I wasn’t going to be able to rely on that constant stream of content and comfort. It made me really sad.

Over the years - and with distance from that slump - I’ve come to recognise what an actual gift that it is that we get a collective moment of pause. It has become a regular reminder that the focus on the external is sometimes taking away from what’s in front of us. To turn both inwards and also towards those we actually know in our lives*.*

So now, I look forward to the end of the year, and my podcast feed going mostly-quiet for a stretch of time. It also gives me a chance to catch up on everything that I’ve missed in the busy last few months of the year, comb through those backlogs. I hope you get to enjoy it this year too :)